Turn you to the strong hold, ye prisoners of hope: even to day do I declare that I will render double unto thee (Zech. 9:12).
The prisoners of hope are to turn to their Stronghold. In times of distress and perplexity the unbelieving, who are not prisoners of hope, do not turn to the Stronghold. Their hearts fail them "for looking after those things which are coming on the earth" (Luke 21:26). Those who have not made God their refuge will not have Him for their consolation. Christ is our stronghold, and our hope is in Him. This promise is for those living in these last days.
In Micah 4:8 we read: "And thou, O tower of the flock, the strong hold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion." The Babe of Bethlehem is to be the King of kings. The dominion lost in Adam is to be restored in Christ. The sufferings of God's people through all the ages will be rewarded double unto them in the eternal kingdom of heaven.
This picture text brings to mind the words of Jesus to the dying thief on the cross. When all had rejected or forsaken the Savior, this criminal called Him "Lord." Then, from the cross as from a throne, the Savior issued the decree of His kingdom that this trusting soul, who in the eleventh hour had thrown himself upon his dying Lord, should be with Him in Paradise. He will indeed be remembered when the Lord comes in His kingdom. And that decree was dated "today"--"Verily I say unto thee today." So the cross dates every promise to the child of God and stamps it with authenticity.
God's children may be strangers in a foreign land, some of them even in the prisonhouse of death, but they are all prisoners of hope--"that blessed hope" (Titus 2:13).
MEDITATION PRAYER: "My soul fainteth for thy salvation: but I hope in thy word" (Ps. 119:81).
The prisoners of hope are to turn to their Stronghold. In times of distress and perplexity the unbelieving, who are not prisoners of hope, do not turn to the Stronghold. Their hearts fail them "for looking after those things which are coming on the earth" (Luke 21:26). Those who have not made God their refuge will not have Him for their consolation. Christ is our stronghold, and our hope is in Him. This promise is for those living in these last days.
In Micah 4:8 we read: "And thou, O tower of the flock, the strong hold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion." The Babe of Bethlehem is to be the King of kings. The dominion lost in Adam is to be restored in Christ. The sufferings of God's people through all the ages will be rewarded double unto them in the eternal kingdom of heaven.
This picture text brings to mind the words of Jesus to the dying thief on the cross. When all had rejected or forsaken the Savior, this criminal called Him "Lord." Then, from the cross as from a throne, the Savior issued the decree of His kingdom that this trusting soul, who in the eleventh hour had thrown himself upon his dying Lord, should be with Him in Paradise. He will indeed be remembered when the Lord comes in His kingdom. And that decree was dated "today"--"Verily I say unto thee today." So the cross dates every promise to the child of God and stamps it with authenticity.
God's children may be strangers in a foreign land, some of them even in the prisonhouse of death, but they are all prisoners of hope--"that blessed hope" (Titus 2:13).
MEDITATION PRAYER: "My soul fainteth for thy salvation: but I hope in thy word" (Ps. 119:81).
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